Have you ever had matcha pound cake before? Well, you should try this cake then! It is soft and moist, and is filled with the lovely aroma of matcha! It definitely adds a delicious twist to a normal pound cake.
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❤️Why you will love this recipe
- An easy matcha pound cake recipe, and quick to make too.
- It has moist and extra tender crumbs with delicious green tea flavor.
- The cake is great to be eaten on its own or with a simple dredge of icing sugar. You can also add a simple glaze icing drizzle or a chocolate ganache drizzle to it if you wish.
- Given the sturdy and perfect texture of pound cakes, this matcha pound cake is excellent for stacking too. You can double the recipe below and bake it in two 7-inches round cake tin. Fill and cover the cakes with your choice of frosting for a lovely matcha flavored celebration cake.
📋Ingredients
- Self-raising flour + baking powder + salt - mix these and sift together before adding to the cake batter.
- Granulated sugar (caster sugar) - fine sugar works best for cakes. Coarse sugar will leave white sugar specks on the surface of the cake after baking.
- Butter - I use salted butter. If using unsalted butter, add an extra small pinch of salt to the recipe.
- Eggs - Use large eggs (large size)
- Milk - whole milk is best for a rich cake.
- Matcha powder (green tea powder) - use good quality, culinary grade matcha powder for best taste.
- Vanilla extract - adds a lovely aroma and flavor to the cake.
*Refer to the recipe card below for exact quantities of the ingredients above. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*
🧾Substitution and variations
- Self raising flour can be substituted with all purpose flour and baking powder. For every 225g of all purpose flour, add one and half teaspoons of baking powder. Mix well and sift three times before using. To make 180g of self raising flour as mentioned in the recipe card below, mix 180g of all purpose flour with one and one fifth teaspoon of baking powder.
- You can replace salted butter with unsalted butter, however, add an extra small pinch of salt to the recipe.
- Skimmed milk can be used in place of whole milk.
- Instead of adding the matcha powder to the entire cake batter, you can also make it into a matcha swirl cake (with a marble effect). To do this, cut the matcha powder in the recipe by half. Mix the cake batter as usual but do not add the matcha powder. Once the batter is ready, divide it into two portions. Sift in the matcha powder to the first portion and leave the second one plain as it is. Spoon both the batter portions into the cake pan in alternate order like in this marble cake here and then use a butter knife to cut through the batter in horizontal and vertical lines to make the swirls in the batter. Bake as usual.
- The cake can also be baked in round or square cake tins. Double the recipe and bake in two 7 inches round cake tins or 6 inches square tins to make a layer cake or sandwich cake.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you do try, please let me know in the comments section below!
👩🏻🍳How to make
Mixing the cake batter
This cake is made using the creaming method, i.e. by creaming the butter and sugar as the first step, before adding all other ingredients in.
- Measure sugar into a bowl.
- Add butter.
- Cream both the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (with a paddle attachment). This should take at least 2 minutes.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure there is no butter left on the sides.
- Once the butter and sugar are well creamed, add the eggs. Add these one at a time, and each time, beat until all the traces of the egg are no longer visible before adding the next egg in.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Adding the dry ingredients and milk
- Next, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and matcha powder into a large bowl. Fold these sifted flour mixture (dry ingredients) into the creamed wet ingredients mixture, alternately with milk. You should do this in 3 batches. Start by folding in one-third of the dry ingredients.
- Next, add half of the milk. Mix well.
- Continue with the second third of the dry ingredients.
- Fold them in followed by the last batch of milk. Mix well.
- Finally, add the final third batch of the sifted dry ingredients. Scrape the sides of the bowl and fold them in until well combined.
- And lastly, add the vanilla extract. Mix until it's all combined.
Baking the cake
- Pour the batter into a well-greased and floured (or parchment paper lined) loaf pan measuring 8 inches by 4 inches.
- Level the top of the cake batter and bake the matcha pound cake in a preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius.
- Check for doneness at least 5 to 10 minutes before the baking time is up by inserting a skewer in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, or with moist cake crumbs, the cake is ready and can be removed from the oven. If there is still wet batter sticking to the skewer, continue baking the cake until the 45 minutes is up.
- Remove the baked matcha pound cake from the oven. Let it rest in the tin for 2 minutes. Use a jam knife to loosen the sides of the cake and then turn it out onto a wire rack (cooling rack) to cool completely. Place the cake upright while cooling.
- To ensure the cake remains moist, cover it with a piece of kitchen towel while cooling it.
🍽️Serving & storage
- This matcha pound cake lasts at room temperature for a good 4 to 5 days, provided it is handled without any contact with moisture. Keep it covered in a container.
- It is best refrigerated if intended to be kept longer. Always keep the cake in an airtight container to avoid it from drying up and losing its moisture.
💡Expert tips
- Use room temperature butter and room temperature eggs - Sometimes the cake batter curdles at the point eggs are added into the creamed butter and sugar mixture. This happens because the butter and eggs are of a different temperature. Ideally, both the butter and eggs should be at room temperature. If one of them is cold, the cake batter tends to curdle. To avoid this, make sure to use room temperature eggs and room temperature butter. If the curdling still happens, fold in some flour. Do not add the milk until the batter is no longer curdled. Once it is smooth (after adding the flour), continue with the liquids and bake as usual.
- Tips for a moist cake:
- Do not overbake the cake. Given the cake tin size of 8 inches by 4 inches, this cake requires 40 to 45 minutes in the oven at 170 degrees Celsius. Nevertheless, check to see if the cake is ready 5 to 10 minutes before the baking time is up by inserting a skewer in the center. If it comes out without any wet cake batter, the cake is done and can be removed from the oven.
- The other tip in ensuring your matcha pound cake remains moist is by wrapping it in cling wrap (plastic wrap) and refrigerating it while it is still warm. Do this for at least 1 to 2 hours. And then remove the cake from the fridge, let it warm up to room temperature and then remove the cling wrap. Dredge the icing sugar on and cut it into slices. Wrapping the cake while it is still warm helps keep the moisture in the cake, and this keeps it moist.
💭FAQs
Matcha is literally green tea in delicate fine powder form. It is typically consumed as a hot beverage and famous mostly in Japan.
While green tea is typically made by seeping green tea leaves in hot water (and the leaves are discarded afterwards), matcha tea on the other hand, comes in finely ground, powder form that is mixed directly into hot water and consumed.
Matcha is increasingly used not only as a beverage but also in many other traditional Japanese recipes including desserts. It imparts a lovely earthy and nutty taste and deep green color. I must say, when added into a pound cake, gives the butter cake a unique green tea flavor and is definitely a dessert worth trying!
Green tea and matcha leaves are from the same plant species. Both have long been consumed as beverages. Green tea is often in crushed leaves form (similar to other black teas) and is typically prepared by seeping the leaves in hot water. The leaves are then discarded and the tea consumed as it is.
Matcha, on the other hand, comes in a finely ground, delicate fine powder form. Unlike green tea, matcha powder is mixed in water and consumed as such. It can be sweetened or made into a latte by adding milk or cream.
For this matcha pound cake, you need to use the matcha powder and not the green tea leaves. Also, make sure the match powder is of culinary grade. The powder is sifted together with flour to break any lumps and then mixed into the cake batter.
Yes, you certainly can. I have used 7g of matcha powder (approximately 1 level tablespoon). The resulting cake has an average matcha flavoring. This amount is just nice to give the cake an obvious green color to it too.
If you wish to increase the amount of matcha powder in the cake or even decrease it, you certainly can. While is it ok to make small adjustments, do take note that the final results of the cake may vary if you adjust the amount significantly.
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📖Recipe
Matcha Pound Cake (Moist & Easy)
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
Cake
- 180 g self-raising flour
- 180 g granulated sugar
- 180 g butter at room temperature
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 7 g matcha powder (approximately 1 tbsp)
- 3 tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- 20 g powdered sugar (sifted)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170 °Celsius.
- Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy for about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, sift flour, matcha powder, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk. Start and end with flour.
- Finally, fold in the vanilla extract.
- Pour the cake batter into a well-greased and floured loaf cake tin. Level the top.
- Bake the matcha pound cake for 40 to 45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out without any wet batter.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the tin for 2 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool further.
- Let the cake cool completely before dredging the icing sugar on.
Video
Notes
- Self raising flour can be substituted with all purpose flour and baking powder. To make 180g of self raising flour as mentioned in the recipe card, mix 180g of all purpose flour with one and one fifth teaspoon of baking powder (in addition to the baking powder indicated in the recipe). Mix well and sift 3 times before using.
- You can replace salted butter with unsalted butter, however, add an extra small pinch of salt to the recipe.
- Skimmed milk can be used in place of whole milk.
- Instead of adding the matcha powder to the entire cake batter, you can also make it into a matcha swirl cake (with a marble effect). To do this, cut the matcha powder in the recipe by half. Mix the cake batter as usual but do not add the matcha powder. Once the batter is ready, divide it into two portions. Sift in the matcha powder to the first portion and leave the second one plain as it is. Spoon both the batter portions into the cake pan in alternate order like in this marble cake here and then use a butter knife to cut through the batter in horizontal and vertical lines to make the swirls in the batter. Bake as usual.
- Do not overbake the cake. Test the cake to see if the cake is ready 5 to 10 minutes before the baking time is up by inserting a skewer in the center. If it comes out without any wet cake batter, the cake is done and can be removed from the oven.
- The other tip in ensuring your matcha pound cake remains moist is by wrapping it in cling wrap (plastic wrap) and refrigerating it while it is still warm. Do this for at least 1 to 2 hours. And then remove the cake from the fridge, let it warm up to room temperature and then remove the cling wrap. Dredge the icing sugar on and cut it into slices. Wrapping the cake while it is still warm helps keep the moisture in the cake, and this keeps it moist.
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